In January 2023, Bill Denman from Sterling Acres approached Pastor Travis Yeargans, Sr., from River’s
Edge Fellowship about a potential merger. After much prayer and discussion with the River’s Edge
elders, they decided to present the idea to the congregation. The congregation excitedly approved the
idea and the discussion to merge began in earnest.
Just a little background about these two churches prior to the merger:
Sterling Acres Baptist Church was a well-established congregation with a rich history. The church was
formed in 1956 as a mission of Beaumont Baptist Church and incorporated as Sterling Acres Baptist
Church in 1957. The church grew consistently from that point and was very active in SBC/MO
Baptist/KC BR life. SABC was engaged in serving the community through a ministry called Workers for
Christ. Workers for Christ engaged people with the gospel of Jesus Christ and met many needs in the
area. Several members have been actively involved in Baptist Builders and Disaster Relief efforts over
the years. SABC has been a faithful partner in the city for the cause of Christ. Unfortunately, as we
have seen all too often, the numbers at SABC declined as its membership aged. As the surrounding
community began to change demographically, their ability to effectively reach them grew more
difficult. With the retirement of Pastor Welby Jones, the leadership determined a different approach
was needed.
River’s Edge Fellowship was planted as an unaffiliated Baptist church in 2006. Travis Yeargans, Sr., was
the founding pastor and continues to serve the congregation to this day. The church was started with
a view toward urban ministry. The core team believed God could use them to build Christ-centered
influence in a culture that was becoming more and more demonic. REF changed locations a few times
and landed in Raytown, MO in 2012.
River’s Edge began to affiliate with BR-KC in 2014 as a campus of Lenexa Baptist Church. That
connection helped them in community engagement through evangelism, Vacation Bible School, and
various other community events.
Pastor Travis met Welby Jones while pursuing ministry opportunities in the Raytown area and
immediately developed a friendship. Sterling Acres allowed River’s Edge to utilize their facility for
hosting missions’ teams, baptisms, and other activities that their facility could not accommodate. Little
did we know that God was up to something much greater than a church friendship. He was planting
the seeds for a church merger.
Fast forward to 2023. The congregations had two combined services and held VBS at the
Sterling location. After much prayer and some negotiations about the details of a merger, a vote was
taken by each congregation on July 9th. Each church voted overwhelmingly to merge. The excitement
was palpable.
An important part of this story is that the demographics of each congregation were very different.
Sterling Acres was a majority white, older congregation. River’s Edge, a majority black, mostly young
families. As a combined church we have become a multi-ethnic, multi-generational church overnight.
We are “A multi-ethnic, multi-generational family of Christ’s disciples on mission to advance the
Kingdom of God.” We like to shorten that by saying we are multi-ethnic on purpose.
We recognized early on that what we were embarking on was a great Kingdom advancement. In a
polarized world, the church cannot continue to be separated or segregated. Maybe, just maybe, God
wants to use our merger as a way to draw the lost, encourage the saints, and model a picture of
heaven here on earth. We request your prayers for this sometimes difficult assignment we have
accepted.
Now, as one church, our aim is to reach our community and city as a place where people of different
ethnicities and ages can come to be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and can serve Him and
our city together.
